A day after Rahul Gandhi's visit and interaction with the farming community, farmers' widows as well as several distressed farmers staged a day-long sit-in agitation under the banner of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti to highlight their problems at Pandharkawda in Yavatmal district today.
A number of widows from Vidarbha and drought-hit farmers joined the stir to draw attention of the BJP-led Central government and BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra to farmers' suicides and the government's complete neglect of the region's agrarian crisis, according to a Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti press release issued here today.
Protestors demanded immediate farm loan waiver, food security to distressed farmers as well as ensuring fresh crop loans for the ensuing kharif crop, the release said.
They unanimously resolved to stage an indefinite fast before the Prime Minister's Office in Delhi next month to fulfill these demands, the release said.
The Delhi protest is to be led by Aparna Malikar, a 32-year-old farm widow, who was recently elected sarpanch of Wara Kauta village in Yavatmal district, the release said.
Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti President Kishore Tiwari said that it is time for serious thinking to tackle the agrarian crisis, the release said.
Malikar, who is also secretary of the Vidarbha Farm Widows' Organisation, demanded that the BJP-ruled governments at the Centre and the state should act immediately to save farmers from taking extreme steps, the release said.
"Farmers feel that Rahul Gandhi's padayatra in the scorching sun to meet distressed farmers is a wake-up call to Modi and as well as Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. We will march to Delhi to get answers from the PM," farm widow Bharati Pawar said at the sit-in agitation, the release said.
An average of three farmers commit suicide in Vidarbha everyday due to crop failure, crippling debts and not getting a remunerative price for their produce.
